A new excavation appears to dispel a long-held theory that a volcanic eruption destroyed a major Greek civilization on the island of Crete nearly 3,500 years ago, archaeologists say.
Jeffrey Soles, an associate professor of classical studies at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, said his team dug up solid evidence last summer that a volcanic eruption did not destroy Minoan civilization about 1450 B.C., as suggested by a theory that has been widely accepted for 50 years.Soles said at a news conference that the discovery is a "most significant one" and will prompt the rewriting of some portions of history books on Western civilization.
Soles's team, co-directed by Costis Davaras of Crete's Archaeological Institute, said it found conclusive proof that a volcanic eruption 70 miles away on the island of Thera, now known as Santorini, did not destroy the Minoan civilization of ancient Crete.
The theory, Soles said, was that the eruption was responsible for the destruction of the peace-loving Minoans, an advanced civilization that developed, among other things, the flush toilet. Greek archaeologist Spyriden Marinatos originated the theory about 50 years ago.
In excavations at Mochlos, a tiny island off the north coast of Crete, Soles and Davaras did find a layer of volcanic ash, but it dated back to about 1600 B.C.
Furthermore, above the ash, the team found architectural and pottery remains indicating that Minoan civilization continued to flourish for some 150 years after the volcanic eruption, Soles said. That discovery led the archeologists to conclude that the Marinatos theory can no longer be accepted.
"If you read the Western civilization textbooks about ancient Greece, you will find that the volcanic eruption on Thera is portrayed as a major possiblity for the destruction of the Minoans," Soles said. "Now, we can't do that anymore."
Soles said changes in Minoan writing and pottery made about 1450 B.C. point to mainland Greece. And he speculated a mainland people, the Mycenaeans, probably were responsible for the destruction of Minoan civilization.
This is not the first time doubts have been cast on the Marinatos theory in recent years. Radiocarbon dating of seeds and wood found in the volcanic ash at Santorini also led University of Pennsylvania scientists to date the time of the volcanic eruption at no later than 1600 B.C.